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25,000 people a day die from hunger. You have the opportunity to multipy your donation 5 x to help feed families and save lives!

In Bangladesh, poverty and natural disasters shatter futures and steal lives. These ever-present threats do not differentiate between caste, creed or culture. All Bangladeshis are at risk. All suffer their consequences.

Recently, while visiting a remote and desolate island in southern Bangladesh’s Gopalganj district, we found the Bairagee family caught in a desperate struggle to survive. This beautiful family of five welcomed us into their meager home and shared a glimpse into their lives.

To reach Krishna, his wife Pushpa, their 17-year-old son Ashok and daughters 13-year-old Shilpi and 9-year-old Nilpi, was no easy feat. Due to decades of severe flooding, much of Bangladesh’s lowlands are only accessible by traditional, hand-carved boats expertly navigated through tangled wetlands. After more than two hours of weaving through flooded canals, we arrived at a barren island – the Bairagee’s home.

Once, this island could be accessed on foot, though floodwaters have long since concealed the winding footpaths that connect much of the low-lying areas. Today, the Bairagee children attend school by boat, a dangerous journey that has claimed the lives of children in the community. In fact, on separate occasions, both Ashok and Nilpi nearly drowned but were saved by Shilpi. Ashok suffers from severe chest pains but the family cannot afford the doctor’s fees and the trip to the nearest clinic is long and treacherous. However, the risk of travel is not the most significant issue at hand.

Above all, this family is hungry. Without work to earn an income and purchase food, the Bairagee family will starve.

Currently, Krishna works as a day labourer in a rice field. He makes just 300 Taka per day, the equivalent of $3 Canadian. During seasons without work, he must borrow for food, clothing and school fees for his children. Stretched thin, the family usually eats only once a day and this is not guaranteed. If they catch fish, they eat. If no fish are caught, there is no meal at all.

Theirs is no unique struggle. Across Bangladesh and throughout every community we work in worldwide, deadly hunger runs rampant.

This is why World Relief Canada supports essential food-for-work programs that provide families with enough food to keep them healthy and even surplus food to sell so that healthcare and education costs can be covered.

Today, your generous gift of $75, $150 or even $300 will provide immediate food-security assistance to families across Bangladesh and throughout all our impact areas around the globe.

As an added bonus, thanks to our partnership with the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, your gift will instantly multiply five times in value to bring even more transformation to the lives of hungry children and their families.

This means your valuable gift of $75 will instantly multiply to $375 in value, while your gift of $150 will multiply to an extraordinary $750 to help even more starving families!

In southern Bangladesh, we partner with local agencies to employ more than 1,200 mud cutters – local men who excavate flood-prone canals during the dry season. For each day’s work, these men receive enough food to feed their families three meals and most have enough left over to sell for additional income.

The mud cutter’s wives and the women of the community also find employment as road dressers – those who create elevated, flood-resistant pathways alongside the canals so that children can walk to school safely and families can better access remote health clinics.

The difference this opportunity makes in the lives of these families is nothing short of remarkable. As a result, parents like Krishna and Pushpa urgently await the start of the food-for-work program in their community.

Soon, the seasons will change in Bangladesh and our next food-for-work canal excavation will begin. Hundreds of men and women will join together to improve the future of their community while improving the futures of their families – all because of your compassion. With your help, their families will eat three nutritious meals each day. Thanks to your generosity, their children will have better access to school and healthcare.

Your support helps transform lives in Bangladesh but it does not end there.

Of the 870 million people in the world living without enough to eat, 98 percent live in developing countries, many in Africa.

In South Sudan, your gift helps to establish innovative training programs to help 1,000 farmers learn to implement sustainable agricultural practices. The impact is remarkable. When 1,000 farmers are equipped to succeed, 13,000 people find a dependable source of food. When these farmers share their knowledge with their neighbors, entire communities grow and thrive.

In Liberia, your gift provides training and support to help farmers create rice paddies and plant vegetables. With a stable source of food, farmers and their families no longer suffer the effects of extreme hunger. With additional crops to sell and trade, families can improve their situations by improving their livelihoods, by increasing their education and by adequately addressing their healthcare needs.

You see, the simple act of providing food-for-work creates a ripple effect that loosens the grip of hunger and breaks the chains of poverty to create powerful and positive change that impacts generations.

Today, your most generous donation will begin a process that will improve and save lives in impoverished and developing communities around the globe. Your dedicated support will help provide vital opportunities to willing and able parents so that their children will have enough to eat, will have clean water to drink and will have access to childhood essentials like healthcare and an education.

Today, your caring partnership will help turn suffering into success.

On behalf of the families you’ve already significantly helped and on behalf of all those you have yet to impact – thank you!

P.S. Every gift you give today will be multiplied 5 times in value. Please extend your support once more to other vulnerable families. Please click here to donate now!